LM Dr. Dana Mackenzie is a USCF Life Master, a PhD mathematician, and an award-winning mathematics, science journalist and author. LM Dana Mackenzie started playing tournament chess during the "Fischer boom" of 1971-72 and never quit. Champion of North Carolina in 1985 & 1987, he became a master in 1988. Mackenzie now lives in Santa Cruz, CA and runs a chess club for kids at the local library. His passion for chess and his enthusiasm for teaching is unmistakable.

LM Dr. Dana Mackenzie is a USCF Life Master, a PhD mathematician, and an award-winning mathematics, science journalist and author. LM Dana Mackenzie started playing tournament chess during the "Fischer boom" of 1971-72 and never quit. Champion of North Carolina in 1985 & 1987, he became a master in 1988. Mackenzie now lives in Santa Cruz, CA and runs a chess club for kids at the local library. His passion for chess and his enthusiasm for teaching is unmistakable.

LM Dr. Dana Mackenzie is a USCF Life Master, a PhD mathematician, and an award-winning mathematics, science journalist and author. LM Dana Mackenzie started playing tournament chess during the "Fischer boom" of 1971-72 and never quit. Champion of North Carolina in 1985 & 1987, he became a master in 1988. Mackenzie now lives in Santa Cruz, CA and runs a chess club for kids at the local library. His passion for chess and his enthusiasm for teaching is unmistakable.

M David Vigorito gives an overview of what to do when a game goes outside theory, beyond tactics and you are over the board and on your own. Over a series of three example games he delves into what the considerations are on the board and how to make decisions.

GM Jesse Kraai gives us a modern look at the strategy and tactics of Aron Nimzowistch. Aron Niemzowitsch ( November 7, 1886 – March 16,1935) was a Russian born, Danish leading chess master[and a very influential chess writer. He was the foremost figure amongst the hypermoderns. Nimzowitsch is considered one of the most important players and writers in chess history. His works influenced numerous other players, including Savielly Tartakower, Milan Vidmar, Richard Reti, Akiba Rubinstein, Brent Larsen and Tigran Petrosian.His influence is still felt today.

Beginner chess players win and lose with tactics. It is just that simple for the beginner chess player. If you are not constantly looking for tactical opportunities to win material, gain space, or to seize the initiative, you are not playing good chess. The best chess players win by forcing moves, which are moves that threaten tactics and make your opponent react.

If you are not playing aggressive chess, you are not playing good chess. The game is just that simple! I have beat many players that are much higher rated than me and should be better than me, but I played more aggressively. If you come out swinging from the very first moves in a game, constantly striving to create threats and place pressure on your opponent you are going to be playing winning chess.

The secret to winning chess games is very simple – YOU MUST ATTACK! If you like to open passively and slowly build a strong defensive position, you are playing bad chess! To win games in chess, you must be attacking. You can’t wait your opponent to make a mistake because that is not going to win you any games! The best players in the world try to create at least one threat with every single move; why can’t beginner chess players do the exact same thing?

In this chess DVD, GM Damian Lemos stresses the importance of paying attention to the underlying balance of the position and to remain alert to the changing dynamics of any position and be ready to adapt and change to a more solid, defensive posture.

If you want to win more games, you have to attack your opponent and can not be scared to sacrifice to break through with an attack. There are an overwhelming variety of sacrifices and reasons for making sacrifices – you could give up a pawn to seize the initiative or gain space, you could sacrifice an exchange to change the dynamic of a position, or you could make a positional sacrifice by allowing doubled, isolated pawns but gaining a dangerous attack against your opponent’s king.

The positional sacrifice is one of the hardest concepts to learn in chess because it requires a profound understanding of the game. Many beginner and intermediate players vastly overemphasize the importance of material in chess, failing to utilize the massive benefits that a positional sacrifice can bring.

If you want to be a strong chess player, you have to constantly attack your opponents! The best players in the world strive to make a threat with every single move, consistently applying pressure and creating problems that their opponents are forced to solve. Chess has evolved substantially in the past 100 years and to succeed in today’s game, you must be thoroughly dedicated to attacking chess.

The opening is the most critical phase in chess. If you are an extremely aggressive player, from the very first moves striving to place pressure on your opponent – you will thrive in the opening and achieve great positions early in your games. However if you are a passive player and prefer to build a solid position before creating threats against your opponent’s position, you will never achieve good positions in the opening because your opponent will have a free reign to seize the initiative and start attacking you

Newly formatted and updated! Fourteen chapters illustrate the explanations and thinking behind every tactical concept. Learn to use pins, single and double forks, double attacks, skewers, discovered and double checks, multiple threats and other crushing tactics to gain an immediate edge. Each concept is fully explained in easy-to-understand language with diagrams, examples and game situations so you understand the thinking and game plan behind every moves.

A Course in Chess Tactics A Step-by-Step Approach to Mastering Tactics and Combinations

Catalog Code: B0141GB

Few books present a structured approach to tactics, so this book fills a valuable niche in the ambitious player's library. The authors present each major tactical theme in turn, explaining how it works and providing inspiring examples. They then explain how you can spot the idea in your own games and use it to your advantage.

Beginners of all ages will win more games after studying this easy-to-follow book. This isn't another random collection of puzzles, but a systematic course that teaches you how to checkmate your opponent. Experienced chess coach Kevin Stark explains elementary mating patterns in all the important positions and provides many tests to see if you have really mastered the technique.

Calculate Like a Grandmaster Learn from the World-Class Attacking Players

Catalog Code: B0112BT

This is a penetrating study of the attacking methods of the most aggressive chess players of the modern era-from 1960s world champion Mikhail Tal to Magnus Carlsen, teenage leader of today's new wave of deadly attackers. The attacking style is a good choice for any chess competitor, but especially for less advanced players, who will relish the fireworks it produces.

As a Chess Master who has spent many years playing aggressive and attacking chess, I was quite dismayed during a recent visit to my local bookstore. I was in search of a book that covered an array of attacks against many Pawn formations in an organized fashion. Needless to say, my search came up empty. The books on attacking fell short in many ways. Many of the books were simply a small collection of attack games with no instruction about the art of attacking or about the skills required to become a great attacker.

Play Like A Girl!, the first book of its kind, is a collection of tactical positions from the world's best women chessplayers. Profiled players range from Hungary's Judit Polgar, the best woman chessplayer in history, to Abby Marshall, the teenager who became the first American girl to win the Denker High School Tournament of Champions.

Instruction + exercises according to the old Soviet Chess School. The best advice for chess players who want to improve quickly is: get better at tactics! Because the vast majority of amateur games is decided through tactics you will immediately start beating more opponents when you improve your tactical skills.

Sacking the Citadel The History, Theory and Practice of the Classic Bishop Sacrifice

Catalog Code: B0045RE

Four hundred years ago, an Italian chess master, Gioachino Greco, discovered an extraordinary bishop sacrifice on h7 that often leads to checkmate or a significant material advantage. More amazing still, he recorded the idea!

This truly outstanding book, first published in Russian in the 1970s and regarded there as a classic, contains everything you need to know bout how to deliver checkmate. It contains a wealth of elegant and sophisticated chess tactics as well as systematic and effective instruction.

This book is a collection of attacks in chess against a castled king position. The author, a FIDE rated chess master and a professional chess coach and teacher, writes: "In the course of my many years of teaching at all levels from elementary school to graduate school. I have often found it useful to use source books containing materials around which I could build lessons."

Every chess player knows that some moves are harder to see than others. Why is it that, frequently, uncomplicated wins simply do not enter your mind? Even strong grandmasters suffer from blind spots that obscure some of the best ideas during a game. What is more: often both players fail to see the opportunity that is right in front of their eyes.

Power Chess for Kids Learn How to Think Ahead and Become One of the Best Players in Your School

Catalog Code: B0104NIC

A power move, explains experienced chess teacher Charles Hertan, is a winning master tactic that requires thinking ahead. To become one of the best chess players in your school you need to be able to think just 1,5 moves ahead, and this book teaches the four basic tricks do so.

A mastery of tactics is essential to a competitive chess player and Lev Psakhis is ideally qualified to show the way. In Advanced Chess Tactics Psakhis showcases many beautiful attacking games to make his points. Psakhis has the ability to explain deep analysis while also offering simple yet wise tips gleaned from his lifetime of experience.

These players clearly needed a good book, but when Weteschnik looked for it he found nothing suitable, so he decided to write it himself. But Weteschnik was not completely satisfied with the book and decided to restructure and rewrite it completely.

This book is aimed at beginners who know the rules and nothing more. This is how chess players start. They must learn the simple tactics. This is the only workbook at this level. Completing the puzzles in this book will lead to improved results immediately!

Chess Camp is a new training system for beginning chessplayers, and for the parents and coaches who teach them. Starting with simple problems to illustrate key concepts, and then progressing to more complex positions, the student will learn by doing, methodically integrating new information with previous knowledge while building effective thinking habits at the board.

1001 Chess Exercises for Beginners is a great first tactics book. It helps you in identifying weak spots in the position of your opponent, in recognizing patterns of combinations, and in visualizing tricks.

The Definitive Book - Encyclopedia of Chess Problems - Themes and Terms

Catalog Code: B0009SHV

The Definitive Book, Encyclopedia of Chess Problems: Themes and Terms, written by Velimirovic and his colleague, GM solver and 1984 World Solving champion, Kari Valtonen from Finland. Inside, there are 1,726 selected problems and all the answers to any question that one might ask about chess problems. It can be read in different ways, like the classical Larousse encyclopedia or as a great collection of problems. Every theme and term is illustrated with the appropriate problem.